The first and only rule that applies to clients of tour operators that leave them high to dry, is to P-A-Y for the services/goods rendered by the third party and seek legal satisfaction via the courts where the original contract took place to begin with.
NO (and I mean none at all) biz will allow you to take a seat at their place (I.E: Restaurant) and order from the menu so that later you just take a stroll out of their doors, sans payment of course...
That's criminal action right then and there!
The people should be smart enough to know that even while traveling abroad, the rule of common sense applies as well...
What did they expect? That the Hotel would just smile and say "Oh! We understand! Don't worry be Happy!??!!
Some Hotels/operators can afford providing services and seeking payment later (as their operations are well funded and backed by legal firms that can represent in and out of the country), but others (and the large amount of them) can't just do that.
If the people expected to just pack their bags and be on their merry way home, they acted as fools and were treated as such to begin with.
That some operators go beyond the point to accommodate clients is their prerogative and lawful given right. The clients here share their burden under the LAW and that's to pay for the services "before" leaving the premises. The fact that armed personnel was used to restrain their intention to depart w/o satisfying their bill, tells the other side of the coin.
In Canada, hotel security would restrain any person from leaving the premises as Police is called in, if the clients are stupid enough to force their way out of paying for the services. That's a fact well documented there in the local papers...
For all their crying they should have paid for the services/goods rendered and seek satisfaction form the second party in question.
In the DR Police response is not on par to that of Canada or the US, UK and many other FIRST world countries. Using armed security is nothing out the book but the norm to restrain or enforce security/order in private premises. You can spot a shotgun wielding security even in the entrance to most stores in ritzy places, let alone have them enforce premises codes of conduct and payment for goods/services as well.
I find more shocking that the clients had the nerve to think that they could just walk out of paying their tabs, b/c they "said" they paid the second party for the Hotel services upfront. I mean... Coming from a super developed country one would think they know better than to avoid paying for services to a third party, w/o even thinking that the LAW provides that right to biz in the first place.
When was the last time you went to the corner 7/11 in downtown Manhattan and picked a bag full of goods, just to waltz clear to the street w/o paying for the goods? Or did you make a reservation and payment with a company like Orbitz, juts to later find out the full rates apply in your case and Orbitz can't send their maggot to your aid, and deciding to walk out of the front door of that hotel w/o paying!??!
The rule is to pay and sue the responsible party later. You can't walk out from a vendor/service provider charges for their wares just b/c...
I have seen people get arrested in places like the Marriott Marquis for failure to pay their tabs, as well as in Las Vegas so many times that I can't possibly count them... The Hotel places criminal charges against the clients and they get issued a court appearance summons to that end (at the officer's discretion).
Want to prove me wrong? Just try it and see if any hotel in the USA or CAN would just let you waltz your way out from paying your bill!
Jesus! The stuff people come up with just keeps getting worst by the day!!!
Private clinics in the DR are a biz, unlike in the US they can't just send the bill to the medicare or medicaid dept to cover the basic loses for services unpaid by patients. If they couldn't afford having a baby in a private clinic they should have gone to a public Hospital for free...
I see zilch wrongdoing from the Hotel owners on this matter at all...
Instead of giving the country a black eye on regards to services rendered/unpaid, the news will make those with pre-paid packages more observant of the operators they hand their money to in their own country before venturing to the DR...
